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The Land Before Avocado
The new book from the bestselling author of Flesh Wounds. A funny and frank look at the way Australia used to be - and just how far we have come. 'It was a simpler time'. We had more fun back then'. 'Everyone could afford a house'.
There's plenty of nostalgia right now for the Australia of the past, but what was it really like?
In The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It's a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land: a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible, and, now and then, surprisingly appealing.
It's the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late '60s and early '70s.
Let's break the news now: they didn't have avocado.
It's a place of funny clothing and food that was appalling, but amusingly so. It is also the land of staggeringly awful attitudes - often enshrined in law - towards anybody who didn't fit in.
The Land Before Avocado will make you laugh and cry, feel angry and inspired. And leave you wondering how bizarre things were, not so long ago.
Most of all, it will make you realise how far we've come - and how much further we can go.
There's plenty of nostalgia right now for the Australia of the past, but what was it really like?
In The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It's a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land: a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible, and, now and then, surprisingly appealing.
It's the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late '60s and early '70s.
Let's break the news now: they didn't have avocado.
It's a place of funny clothing and food that was appalling, but amusingly so. It is also the land of staggeringly awful attitudes - often enshrined in law - towards anybody who didn't fit in.
The Land Before Avocado will make you laugh and cry, feel angry and inspired. And leave you wondering how bizarre things were, not so long ago.
Most of all, it will make you realise how far we've come - and how much further we can go.
272 pages, Paperback
First published October 22, 2018
313 people are currently reading
2469 people want to read
About the author
Richard Glover
93 books111 followersRichard is a newsprint journalist and a Sydney radio broadcaster for the ABC.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 575 reviews
April 21, 2019
A highly entertaining book written by an equally entertaining author. It is one of those books where you have to keep reading bits out to anyone who will listen because the humorous lines are so real that you just want to share them.
I was actually in the UK and South Africa during the period Glover is describing but many of the events he describes were international. We really did prepare all those weird and wonderful meals and served them up at the dinner parties which were our main source of entertainment. In England we drank tea because the coffee was so awful and stayed that way until Australia developed and exported the flat white.
I loved all the statistics and the comparisons and totally agree with the author that we are living in the good times now. I think our nostalgia is just for our youth, not for the overall life style. Towards the end of the book I felt that Glover began to show a bit of political bias and I skimmed a little until it finished.
Nevertheless most of the book was well researched, full of facts and frequently really funny. I enjoyed it very much.
I was actually in the UK and South Africa during the period Glover is describing but many of the events he describes were international. We really did prepare all those weird and wonderful meals and served them up at the dinner parties which were our main source of entertainment. In England we drank tea because the coffee was so awful and stayed that way until Australia developed and exported the flat white.
I loved all the statistics and the comparisons and totally agree with the author that we are living in the good times now. I think our nostalgia is just for our youth, not for the overall life style. Towards the end of the book I felt that Glover began to show a bit of political bias and I skimmed a little until it finished.
Nevertheless most of the book was well researched, full of facts and frequently really funny. I enjoyed it very much.
January 29, 2019
My fave afternoon radio presenter shows us his flair again; he has the gift of the gab that's for sure! From horrible 70's food to politics, crime rates, child mortality, gender equality to holidays in the 70's, and the cringe worthy things our parents did back in the day.
Richard puts all this out there, then reflects, rather sensibly that so many of us say 'how much better things used to be'. Were they, really? He researched thoroughly, even going out to Kingswood to the State Archives, and delving heavily into the Australian Women's Weekly which was very interesting reading from the 70's and beyond. But most importantly, what was happening in this wacky country of ours 'before Avocado'.
I listened to the audio narrated by the author and would highly recommend it. The food back then was awful! Yuck!
Richard puts all this out there, then reflects, rather sensibly that so many of us say 'how much better things used to be'. Were they, really? He researched thoroughly, even going out to Kingswood to the State Archives, and delving heavily into the Australian Women's Weekly which was very interesting reading from the 70's and beyond. But most importantly, what was happening in this wacky country of ours 'before Avocado'.
I listened to the audio narrated by the author and would highly recommend it. The food back then was awful! Yuck!
April 24, 2021
Radio and TV journalist Richard Glover's look at the Australia of the 1960s and 70s paints an amusing, and informative picture of how far we have come as a country fifty years later. Using both statistics and The Australian Women's Weekly as an integral part of his research material he has delved deep into the question of whether times were safer and better back then, as often asserted, and come up with a resounding No.
Before the prevalence of avocado in our regular diet, we were a nation of mainly white European immigrants with laws against homosexuality, women requiring a male guarantor to have a bank loan, as well as those working in public service having to resign when they married, no seat belts in cars and no laws against drink driving. We sunbathed without sunscreen, ate hideous food, getting a phone line installed at home was next to impossible, outdoor dining was not allowed, real coffee was unobtainable, corruption was more common that it is today and the crime rate for all types of crime (robbery, murder, car theft) was much worse than today. We can even expect to live twelve years longer now!
Glover's writing style is highly entertaining and the book is well researched and heaped with interesting facts. While those who lived through the 60s and 70s will find much to feel nostalgic about, younger generations will find much to gasp at and realise just how much has changed since their parents or grandparents were young.
Before the prevalence of avocado in our regular diet, we were a nation of mainly white European immigrants with laws against homosexuality, women requiring a male guarantor to have a bank loan, as well as those working in public service having to resign when they married, no seat belts in cars and no laws against drink driving. We sunbathed without sunscreen, ate hideous food, getting a phone line installed at home was next to impossible, outdoor dining was not allowed, real coffee was unobtainable, corruption was more common that it is today and the crime rate for all types of crime (robbery, murder, car theft) was much worse than today. We can even expect to live twelve years longer now!
Glover's writing style is highly entertaining and the book is well researched and heaped with interesting facts. While those who lived through the 60s and 70s will find much to feel nostalgic about, younger generations will find much to gasp at and realise just how much has changed since their parents or grandparents were young.
June 10, 2019
“We didn’t even have iceberg lettuce. Well, we did – but it wasn’t called iceberg lettuce. It was just called lettuce. The reason? There were no other kinds.”
The Land Before Avocado is a book by Australian radio presenter and best-selling author, Richard Glover. In it he explores life in Australia during the time in which he grew up, the mid-sixties through to the mid-seventies. He explains that recent conversations with incredulous millennials about things both common and rare during that time led him to research the accuracy of his memories.
He starts with a clever little warning in the Smart Traveller website style which neatly summarises the land before avocado. And then he goes into detail. He “surfs the sea of happy nostalgia” but wonders if it was really all so great. Apparently, older Australians are particularly likely to say the past was paradise, but maybe that’s because they themselves were then younger, fitter, more attractive, with knees that didn’t creak.
There's plenty in this book that will raise millennial eye brows and stimulate their scepticism, not the least of which being parenting and teaching philosophies that relied on corporal punishment, and the illegality of outdoor tables at cafes. Meanwhile, readers over fifty sagely nod in agreement that yes, they remember it well (if not always fondly), and mentally add their own experiences.
In telling us what there was and wasn’t in the land before avocado, Glover cites many examples about food, clothing, leisure activities, cost of living, and transport, and details some of the hilarious aspects of life in those years. In fact, he lists fifteen things worth reclaiming from the 70s, and many of that vintage will agree.
But, lest we “indulge in deluded nostalgia” Glover also reminds us of the downside: the horrendous road carnage, archaic divorce laws, gender inequality, censorship, alcohol laws that virtually encouraged drink driving and binge drinking, people smoking everywhere, and an attitude to believing adults over children that gave paedophiles free reign. Certainly, if you were homosexual, Aboriginal, a migrant or Catholic, the late 60's/early 70’s wasn’t such a brilliant place to live.
Glover challenges the belief that things are getting worse, more difficult, and more violent with hard facts, and he ends on a very optimistic note. But this book should definitely come with a warning: Do Not Read This Book whilst consuming food or drink, whilst travelling in the quiet carriage on public transport (as your guffaws may disturb other travellers), and, for readers of a certain vintage, with a full bladder. A hugely entertaining read.
The Land Before Avocado is a book by Australian radio presenter and best-selling author, Richard Glover. In it he explores life in Australia during the time in which he grew up, the mid-sixties through to the mid-seventies. He explains that recent conversations with incredulous millennials about things both common and rare during that time led him to research the accuracy of his memories.
He starts with a clever little warning in the Smart Traveller website style which neatly summarises the land before avocado. And then he goes into detail. He “surfs the sea of happy nostalgia” but wonders if it was really all so great. Apparently, older Australians are particularly likely to say the past was paradise, but maybe that’s because they themselves were then younger, fitter, more attractive, with knees that didn’t creak.
There's plenty in this book that will raise millennial eye brows and stimulate their scepticism, not the least of which being parenting and teaching philosophies that relied on corporal punishment, and the illegality of outdoor tables at cafes. Meanwhile, readers over fifty sagely nod in agreement that yes, they remember it well (if not always fondly), and mentally add their own experiences.
In telling us what there was and wasn’t in the land before avocado, Glover cites many examples about food, clothing, leisure activities, cost of living, and transport, and details some of the hilarious aspects of life in those years. In fact, he lists fifteen things worth reclaiming from the 70s, and many of that vintage will agree.
But, lest we “indulge in deluded nostalgia” Glover also reminds us of the downside: the horrendous road carnage, archaic divorce laws, gender inequality, censorship, alcohol laws that virtually encouraged drink driving and binge drinking, people smoking everywhere, and an attitude to believing adults over children that gave paedophiles free reign. Certainly, if you were homosexual, Aboriginal, a migrant or Catholic, the late 60's/early 70’s wasn’t such a brilliant place to live.
Glover challenges the belief that things are getting worse, more difficult, and more violent with hard facts, and he ends on a very optimistic note. But this book should definitely come with a warning: Do Not Read This Book whilst consuming food or drink, whilst travelling in the quiet carriage on public transport (as your guffaws may disturb other travellers), and, for readers of a certain vintage, with a full bladder. A hugely entertaining read.
January 9, 2019
Technically I grew up in the 80’s, having been born in the early 1970’s, but so much of what Glover writes evokes memories of my childhood, from the pineapple ‘hedgehog’ cheese and onion appetisers, to the unbelted, smoke filled, weaving, courtesy of the ubiquitous cask wine in the bar fridge, car trips. I laughed aloud often at the nostalgic absurdity of it all.
However, The Land Before Avacado is also a sobering reminder of how far we have come as a culture. The status quo for baby boomers and most of Gen X would be inconceivable to today’s generations who can drink gourmet coffee (with smashed avacado toast) in the comfort of their own home, or by the roadside, any day of the week.
Tongue in cheek aside, many advances are sobering, from the drastic reduction of the road death toll, thanks to the introduction of drink driving and seatbelt laws, to laws protecting the employment status of pregnant women.
Glover also shares facts that will likely shock most readers who are convinced by their Facebook feeds that crime is at an all time high, when, in fact, the commission of serious crimes has more than halved across the board in the last fifty years.
While the nostalgic remembrances in The Land Before Avacado, appeal directly to those over the age of 40, I feel compelled to recommend to this to anyone over the age of twenty, many of whom could benefit from a little perspective.
Oh, and I am so going to cook the Spicy Meat Ring!
However, The Land Before Avacado is also a sobering reminder of how far we have come as a culture. The status quo for baby boomers and most of Gen X would be inconceivable to today’s generations who can drink gourmet coffee (with smashed avacado toast) in the comfort of their own home, or by the roadside, any day of the week.
Tongue in cheek aside, many advances are sobering, from the drastic reduction of the road death toll, thanks to the introduction of drink driving and seatbelt laws, to laws protecting the employment status of pregnant women.
Glover also shares facts that will likely shock most readers who are convinced by their Facebook feeds that crime is at an all time high, when, in fact, the commission of serious crimes has more than halved across the board in the last fifty years.
While the nostalgic remembrances in The Land Before Avacado, appeal directly to those over the age of 40, I feel compelled to recommend to this to anyone over the age of twenty, many of whom could benefit from a little perspective.
Oh, and I am so going to cook the Spicy Meat Ring!
December 22, 2020
This book was right up my alley. As a well-versed contrarian who's known to argue/debate points endlessly, The Land Before Avocado was refreshing as it brought forward statistics and comparisons between the "back in the day things were better" pervading statements in the media, conversations and the historical truth, which, spoiler alert!, doesn't support those claims in the least.
Glover focuses solely on Australia, which was so incredibly backwards, it's laughable when we look at today's societal norms, way of life, environment etc.
Obviously, I know that the older we get, the more we seem to see the past with rose coloured glasses to the point of reinventing history and our lives, but besides being younger, healthier, more attractive, objectively speaking, life and the society have gotten undoubtedly better for everyone, but especially for women, minorities, people with different sexual preferences, religions and so on. Life expectancy has increased by about 12 years in the past four, five decades, if that's not something to be grateful for, I don't know what is.
This was quite a timely read and a great reminder that life has its ups and downs and that each generation has had its great challenges and they all thought at the time it was "the worst time ever".
Glover focuses solely on Australia, which was so incredibly backwards, it's laughable when we look at today's societal norms, way of life, environment etc.
Obviously, I know that the older we get, the more we seem to see the past with rose coloured glasses to the point of reinventing history and our lives, but besides being younger, healthier, more attractive, objectively speaking, life and the society have gotten undoubtedly better for everyone, but especially for women, minorities, people with different sexual preferences, religions and so on. Life expectancy has increased by about 12 years in the past four, five decades, if that's not something to be grateful for, I don't know what is.
This was quite a timely read and a great reminder that life has its ups and downs and that each generation has had its great challenges and they all thought at the time it was "the worst time ever".
April 12, 2020
I only wish that non-Australians could read this book and appreciate how spot on and hilarious it is…But really, I think you have to be Aussie to get it!
Richard Glover is a funny man. A journo by profession, his writing is sharp and to the point. There is no literary fluff here at all, but he is highly skilled as a social commentator, observant, astute and very honest!
This is an unabridged snap shot of all Aussie society in the 1970s and 80s – the good the bad and the ugly. And there was a lot of ugly: appalling recipes combining pineapple and cabana, oversized “ear muff” side burns, horrifyingly discriminatory legislation across the board … and most tragically, avocados were basically unheard of (I know, criminal right?) But more seriously and shockingly, women were not able to take out home loans on their own, single mothers were vilified, it was nearly impossible to get a divorce (don’t even think about being gay or foreign!), domestic violence and burglaries were high, as were levels of smoking, drinking and themed dinner parties. Life was difficult if you were different in any way. Basically you needed to be straight, white and male, drink beer and enjoy the football.
There were some more positive developments – the invention of the wine cask (otherwise known as the goon bag), the first mobile/cell phones, disco music, the rise of environmentalism, a gradual infiltration of culture (and more diverse food!) through immigrants, and stricter gun control laws…While there was no internet, facebook, twitter, skype or Instagram, there was also a wonderful sense of freedom from the pressures of social media. Life was more private and slower paced - though they drove fast and often drunk and there were no penalties relating to either.
It’s a comic, nostalgic and pertinent look at how far we have come (as a generation Y baby I had moments, of oh my god can that be true?) but also how far we still have to go…I can say unequivocally however, that on the whole, Australia is today an improved version of it’s 70s self. Most importantly, today avocado is readily available…in fact, it’s too available. It has become so popular and hipster that “smashed avo on toast” seems to appear on every Melbourne café brunch menu. I never order it. It’s nearly as unforgivable as paying $15 for someone else to spread vegemite on your toast or pouring milk on your muesli – these are things you can eat at home people, for free! If I’m paying for breakfast, I want a filet mignon or a tower of buttermilk pancakes with Chantilly cream and freeze dried raspberries. So maybe the land before avocado wasn’t so bad after all?
Richard Glover is a funny man. A journo by profession, his writing is sharp and to the point. There is no literary fluff here at all, but he is highly skilled as a social commentator, observant, astute and very honest!
This is an unabridged snap shot of all Aussie society in the 1970s and 80s – the good the bad and the ugly. And there was a lot of ugly: appalling recipes combining pineapple and cabana, oversized “ear muff” side burns, horrifyingly discriminatory legislation across the board … and most tragically, avocados were basically unheard of (I know, criminal right?) But more seriously and shockingly, women were not able to take out home loans on their own, single mothers were vilified, it was nearly impossible to get a divorce (don’t even think about being gay or foreign!), domestic violence and burglaries were high, as were levels of smoking, drinking and themed dinner parties. Life was difficult if you were different in any way. Basically you needed to be straight, white and male, drink beer and enjoy the football.
There were some more positive developments – the invention of the wine cask (otherwise known as the goon bag), the first mobile/cell phones, disco music, the rise of environmentalism, a gradual infiltration of culture (and more diverse food!) through immigrants, and stricter gun control laws…While there was no internet, facebook, twitter, skype or Instagram, there was also a wonderful sense of freedom from the pressures of social media. Life was more private and slower paced - though they drove fast and often drunk and there were no penalties relating to either.
It’s a comic, nostalgic and pertinent look at how far we have come (as a generation Y baby I had moments, of oh my god can that be true?) but also how far we still have to go…I can say unequivocally however, that on the whole, Australia is today an improved version of it’s 70s self. Most importantly, today avocado is readily available…in fact, it’s too available. It has become so popular and hipster that “smashed avo on toast” seems to appear on every Melbourne café brunch menu. I never order it. It’s nearly as unforgivable as paying $15 for someone else to spread vegemite on your toast or pouring milk on your muesli – these are things you can eat at home people, for free! If I’m paying for breakfast, I want a filet mignon or a tower of buttermilk pancakes with Chantilly cream and freeze dried raspberries. So maybe the land before avocado wasn’t so bad after all?
September 9, 2019
‘I grew up in The Land Before Avocado.’
This book takes me back. I am even older that Richard Glover, and I’m fairly sure I didn’t meet an avocado until about 1977. Sad, isn’t it? ‘The Land before Avocado’ takes some of us back to the decade between 1965 and 1975. It’s sobering to think that so many of you weren’t even born then.
Back in 1965, we were getting ready for the introduction of decimal currency on the 14th of February 1966. We spent a lot of time converting pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. We also spent a lot of time converting dollars and cents back to pounds, shillings and pence which made not sense to me at all. And back in 1968, when Tasmania became the first state since World War I, to introduce daylight saving, my family had to observe two different time zones in suburban Launceston. This was because an elderly cousin refused to adjust his watch, so Mum had to tell him to arrive an hour later for Sunday lunch.
I also remember the books of Lobsang Rampa, the introduction of seatbelts and drink driving laws. The introduction of drink driving laws in Tasmania in 1970 ensured that I obtained my learner’s permit the day I turned 16 in 1972. I have mixed memories of long drives around northern Tasmania. My driving instructor insisted on sampling the wares of any pub within thirty miles (we were still in the process of becoming metric).
I read Richard Glover’s book with great interest. I moved to Canberra in 1974, was here for the great debate when Gus Petersilka wanted tables outside his café in Bunda Street, and in 1975 for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam’s Labor government.
I remember, too, the introduction of no-fault divorce. I wasn’t aware that Tony Abbott had suggested turning back that particular clock, but on behalf of others I am glad he didn’t succeed.
‘In 2009 when Tony Abbott, later prime minister, suggested a return to the idea of fault in divorce, even the private detectives were wary.’
Oh, the memories! I’d recommend this book to everyone interested in life before Avocado!
‘Nostalgia is natural.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This book takes me back. I am even older that Richard Glover, and I’m fairly sure I didn’t meet an avocado until about 1977. Sad, isn’t it? ‘The Land before Avocado’ takes some of us back to the decade between 1965 and 1975. It’s sobering to think that so many of you weren’t even born then.
Back in 1965, we were getting ready for the introduction of decimal currency on the 14th of February 1966. We spent a lot of time converting pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. We also spent a lot of time converting dollars and cents back to pounds, shillings and pence which made not sense to me at all. And back in 1968, when Tasmania became the first state since World War I, to introduce daylight saving, my family had to observe two different time zones in suburban Launceston. This was because an elderly cousin refused to adjust his watch, so Mum had to tell him to arrive an hour later for Sunday lunch.
I also remember the books of Lobsang Rampa, the introduction of seatbelts and drink driving laws. The introduction of drink driving laws in Tasmania in 1970 ensured that I obtained my learner’s permit the day I turned 16 in 1972. I have mixed memories of long drives around northern Tasmania. My driving instructor insisted on sampling the wares of any pub within thirty miles (we were still in the process of becoming metric).
I read Richard Glover’s book with great interest. I moved to Canberra in 1974, was here for the great debate when Gus Petersilka wanted tables outside his café in Bunda Street, and in 1975 for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam’s Labor government.
I remember, too, the introduction of no-fault divorce. I wasn’t aware that Tony Abbott had suggested turning back that particular clock, but on behalf of others I am glad he didn’t succeed.
‘In 2009 when Tony Abbott, later prime minister, suggested a return to the idea of fault in divorce, even the private detectives were wary.’
Oh, the memories! I’d recommend this book to everyone interested in life before Avocado!
‘Nostalgia is natural.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
November 24, 2018
i was so looking forward to this book after the wonderful Flesh Wounds - but oh, when an author has an axe to grind it completely ruins what could have been an interesting, observational piece of history. couldn’t finish it. it’s gone to vinnies... so sad
May 21, 2019
Why the 70s were Bad
22 May 2019
When I started reading this book my first and immediate thought was that the author was trying to be Bill Bryson, particularly since Bryson actually wrote a book along similar lines, namely about his life growing up in 1950s America. Okay, this book is slightly different in that it is not so much about growing up in Australia in the 60s and 70s in the same way, namely because Bryson is able to personalise his accounts much more than the author of this book, who happens to be a radio personality, though one that I have never heard of.
Anyway, this book is actually more an argument about how life is actually much better now than it was back during that time, and in a way the author is attempting to remind us of how things have changed and how we are so much freer now than we were back then. In fact, the only thing that he can find that was better in the 70s than now is the music (something which I’m going to have to agree with him there).
Before I go into the areas with which I disagree, namely because he conveniently ignores them, let us consider where he is right. For instance, it is much better being a woman now than was back then, particularly with the anti-sexual harassment laws that have come about. Look, there is still a long way to go with regards to equal pay (particularly since we aren’t supposed to talk about how much we get paid which means that companies can conveniently continue to pay women less than men), as is the case where there are a number of industries where women are either excluded, or simply harassed to the point that they are simply forced to get out as quickly as possible. Oh, and let us not forget the men’s rights groups who pretty much make the whole female rights advocates out to be extreme radicals.
Another thing he writes about is how things were much more expensive back in the 70s, due to tariffs and all that. Look, I can’t really make much of a comment because, honestly, there really hasn’t been all that much change when it comes to prices where I am concerned – Roleplaying books and computer games are all still pretty expensive, though there are always the free to play mobile games, which are on a whole new level. Okay, books are slightly cheaper, but in my mind they are still pretty pricey. As for music and videos, yeah, they have come down a lot, but then again we are talking about things that would have been imported despite there being tariffs.
However, the concern really comes down to the fact that while the prices of luxuries such as TVs and video players (and computers) have come down significantly, this is something that was generally trending downwards anyway. The other catch is that while the price of consumer goods has come down, the price of necessities have actually gone up, particularly with the rise of China as an economic powerhouse – why has meat suddenly become much more expensive – because it is being exported. Oh, and don’t get me started on petrol and electricity (one is due to excises placed upon it, while the other is due to privatisation). Oh, and let’s not forget that these days we have to pay for decent television (which is actually something new in Australia).
Yet he is right when he suggests that things have become much more safer these days than it was back then. For instance, drink driving laws have actually been introduced. In fact, one would think that pretty much everybody understands that driving under the influence is a bad thing, though it turns out that there are still quite a lot of people out there who have the mistaken belief that they drive better while drunk, or simply just don’t care. Actually there is also the issue of people seeing how much they can drink and then hopefully get home without being pulled over, or simply being so drunk that they basically don’t realise that they really shouldn’t be driving and do so anyway (something that I saw numerous times back in my university days).
It is interesting that you do get a lot of conservatives claiming that our society has become so cushioned these days, and that when they were young they would do this, and have play equipment like that, and they survived. Yeah, when I was young we didn’t have fences around our pools, and it just happened that I was one of the lucky one’s that didn’t fall into the pool and drown (namely because we didn’t have a pool). Yeah, it might be the case that these particular people survived, but I assure you that a lot of children didn’t. Let us not forget the school yard as well – these days we are actually trying to do something about bullying, and also holding teachers accountable for their treatment of the children that we have placed under their care. Honestly, back when I was in school, the teacher would always be believed over and above the child, which meant that bullying didn’t just exist in the playground, but also in the class room – oh, and teachers were also allowed to physically assault children in the name of discipline.
Yet despite all of the changes for the better, I still have to say that things have also changed for the worse. The ability to own a house has become harder and harder, though this has only occurred since 2008, and I probably should also point out that houses have always been expensive – this is nothing new. Then there is the casualisation of the workplace, and the gutting of the manufacturing sector. Sure, more people are going to university these days, but that is because they have to if they want to get a decent job (though there is also the trades, which as it turns out, tends to pay a lot more than a lot of professional jobs do). You see, these days the unskilled jobs are in the service industry, and honestly, I would rather work in a factory than in the service industry, considering some of the crap that people have to face on a daily basis.
Look, I could go on, for instance we also have climate change, and the extinction crisis, which includes the distinct possibility that within a generation insects will have been completely wiped out from the Earth. Oh, and not to mention the fact that society is becoming every more fractured, which isn’t helped by the existence of echo chambers developing inside the many social media platforms out there. The other problem is that while it has been suggested that a lot of change has occurred over the fifty to sixty years, and the suggestion that things have changed of the better, the reality is that history does move in cycles, and sixty years is still an awfully long time. Further more, the forces of conservatism tend to end up being much more powerful than the forces of progressivism, which is why we are still having debates over whether the climate is changing or not.
22 May 2019
When I started reading this book my first and immediate thought was that the author was trying to be Bill Bryson, particularly since Bryson actually wrote a book along similar lines, namely about his life growing up in 1950s America. Okay, this book is slightly different in that it is not so much about growing up in Australia in the 60s and 70s in the same way, namely because Bryson is able to personalise his accounts much more than the author of this book, who happens to be a radio personality, though one that I have never heard of.
Anyway, this book is actually more an argument about how life is actually much better now than it was back during that time, and in a way the author is attempting to remind us of how things have changed and how we are so much freer now than we were back then. In fact, the only thing that he can find that was better in the 70s than now is the music (something which I’m going to have to agree with him there).
Before I go into the areas with which I disagree, namely because he conveniently ignores them, let us consider where he is right. For instance, it is much better being a woman now than was back then, particularly with the anti-sexual harassment laws that have come about. Look, there is still a long way to go with regards to equal pay (particularly since we aren’t supposed to talk about how much we get paid which means that companies can conveniently continue to pay women less than men), as is the case where there are a number of industries where women are either excluded, or simply harassed to the point that they are simply forced to get out as quickly as possible. Oh, and let us not forget the men’s rights groups who pretty much make the whole female rights advocates out to be extreme radicals.
Another thing he writes about is how things were much more expensive back in the 70s, due to tariffs and all that. Look, I can’t really make much of a comment because, honestly, there really hasn’t been all that much change when it comes to prices where I am concerned – Roleplaying books and computer games are all still pretty expensive, though there are always the free to play mobile games, which are on a whole new level. Okay, books are slightly cheaper, but in my mind they are still pretty pricey. As for music and videos, yeah, they have come down a lot, but then again we are talking about things that would have been imported despite there being tariffs.
However, the concern really comes down to the fact that while the prices of luxuries such as TVs and video players (and computers) have come down significantly, this is something that was generally trending downwards anyway. The other catch is that while the price of consumer goods has come down, the price of necessities have actually gone up, particularly with the rise of China as an economic powerhouse – why has meat suddenly become much more expensive – because it is being exported. Oh, and don’t get me started on petrol and electricity (one is due to excises placed upon it, while the other is due to privatisation). Oh, and let’s not forget that these days we have to pay for decent television (which is actually something new in Australia).
Yet he is right when he suggests that things have become much more safer these days than it was back then. For instance, drink driving laws have actually been introduced. In fact, one would think that pretty much everybody understands that driving under the influence is a bad thing, though it turns out that there are still quite a lot of people out there who have the mistaken belief that they drive better while drunk, or simply just don’t care. Actually there is also the issue of people seeing how much they can drink and then hopefully get home without being pulled over, or simply being so drunk that they basically don’t realise that they really shouldn’t be driving and do so anyway (something that I saw numerous times back in my university days).
It is interesting that you do get a lot of conservatives claiming that our society has become so cushioned these days, and that when they were young they would do this, and have play equipment like that, and they survived. Yeah, when I was young we didn’t have fences around our pools, and it just happened that I was one of the lucky one’s that didn’t fall into the pool and drown (namely because we didn’t have a pool). Yeah, it might be the case that these particular people survived, but I assure you that a lot of children didn’t. Let us not forget the school yard as well – these days we are actually trying to do something about bullying, and also holding teachers accountable for their treatment of the children that we have placed under their care. Honestly, back when I was in school, the teacher would always be believed over and above the child, which meant that bullying didn’t just exist in the playground, but also in the class room – oh, and teachers were also allowed to physically assault children in the name of discipline.
Yet despite all of the changes for the better, I still have to say that things have also changed for the worse. The ability to own a house has become harder and harder, though this has only occurred since 2008, and I probably should also point out that houses have always been expensive – this is nothing new. Then there is the casualisation of the workplace, and the gutting of the manufacturing sector. Sure, more people are going to university these days, but that is because they have to if they want to get a decent job (though there is also the trades, which as it turns out, tends to pay a lot more than a lot of professional jobs do). You see, these days the unskilled jobs are in the service industry, and honestly, I would rather work in a factory than in the service industry, considering some of the crap that people have to face on a daily basis.
Look, I could go on, for instance we also have climate change, and the extinction crisis, which includes the distinct possibility that within a generation insects will have been completely wiped out from the Earth. Oh, and not to mention the fact that society is becoming every more fractured, which isn’t helped by the existence of echo chambers developing inside the many social media platforms out there. The other problem is that while it has been suggested that a lot of change has occurred over the fifty to sixty years, and the suggestion that things have changed of the better, the reality is that history does move in cycles, and sixty years is still an awfully long time. Further more, the forces of conservatism tend to end up being much more powerful than the forces of progressivism, which is why we are still having debates over whether the climate is changing or not.
October 29, 2022
A fun trip down memory lane. Brought back so many good memories of my childhood, teenage and young adult years. Awesome times, oh yes, awesome times they were! Seems like only yesterday…. I wish. *sigh*
June 23, 2021
This is a delightful, well researched and exceptionally funny exploration of Australia's not so distant past. My copy was an audiobook read by the author himself and I can't imagine a better reader for this book.
It does not hurt, of course, that Richard Glover's opinions echo my own long standing ones. The way so many people claim the past was better than the present has always mystified me; the most cursory look at the past will clearly CLEARLY show that it is not a place you want to live. But Glover has done the research to support my inarticulate spluttering on the subject.
The narrative starts with the author telling his young son that in the 60's - 70's when he grew up, there was no avocado. His son tells him he thinks that is very unlikely (spoiler; the son is right, kind of). But then Glover goes on to examine many of the holy cows of the "It was better in the past movement" hilariously proving many of them thoroughly wrong.
There are many chapters and many themes - the horrible, execrable food that you can read about in old cookbooks and magazines! Jellied everything, vegetables boiled for ages then impregnated with random powders to make them look as though they are still green - all that is in there. On the other hand, Glover also looks at the good food that was around, the migrants who had good food, but no standing in the wider Australian community.
I love the story of the road trip he took with a few other Australian authors, including a favourite Aussie poet of mine, Komninos, where one rural man showed up simply because he was of Greek origin and had 'never met another Greek'.
Well, the research is in. The sexism was horrendous, no protection at all from rape or battery for a married woman, damn little for an unmarried one. No recourse to no fault divorce, even if both parties wanted it (a law which our very own, personal embarrassment, Tony Abbott fought to have reinstated after the Whitlam government made it legal for two people who did not want to be married to divorce).
Crime rates were higher, violent crime rates were much higher, child deaths were something like %200 higher. Though everyone died about ten years earlier on average, often from what we would think of as preventable deaths. If you were Australian first nations you did not count as human, if you were academically or artistically inclined there was something wrong with you and if you were gay - well, woe betide you. Actually, anyone who was in any way different to some odd mainstream ideal - woe betide all of them.
I just loved the validation!
I was also exceptionally impressed by how lightly the topic was written, it is basically a fun story full of researched information and anecdotes gathered from radio shows over the years. These are lightly mingled with a dash of nostalgia and a recognition that nostalgia has an inbuild editing system that may make it unreliable. Heaps of fun as an audiobook and I would recommend it to any Australian who thinks the past was better, as well as to those of us who remember the past well enough to think that really, no, it probably wasn't.
It does not hurt, of course, that Richard Glover's opinions echo my own long standing ones. The way so many people claim the past was better than the present has always mystified me; the most cursory look at the past will clearly CLEARLY show that it is not a place you want to live. But Glover has done the research to support my inarticulate spluttering on the subject.
The narrative starts with the author telling his young son that in the 60's - 70's when he grew up, there was no avocado. His son tells him he thinks that is very unlikely (spoiler; the son is right, kind of). But then Glover goes on to examine many of the holy cows of the "It was better in the past movement" hilariously proving many of them thoroughly wrong.
There are many chapters and many themes - the horrible, execrable food that you can read about in old cookbooks and magazines! Jellied everything, vegetables boiled for ages then impregnated with random powders to make them look as though they are still green - all that is in there. On the other hand, Glover also looks at the good food that was around, the migrants who had good food, but no standing in the wider Australian community.
I love the story of the road trip he took with a few other Australian authors, including a favourite Aussie poet of mine, Komninos, where one rural man showed up simply because he was of Greek origin and had 'never met another Greek'.
Well, the research is in. The sexism was horrendous, no protection at all from rape or battery for a married woman, damn little for an unmarried one. No recourse to no fault divorce, even if both parties wanted it (a law which our very own, personal embarrassment, Tony Abbott fought to have reinstated after the Whitlam government made it legal for two people who did not want to be married to divorce).
Crime rates were higher, violent crime rates were much higher, child deaths were something like %200 higher. Though everyone died about ten years earlier on average, often from what we would think of as preventable deaths. If you were Australian first nations you did not count as human, if you were academically or artistically inclined there was something wrong with you and if you were gay - well, woe betide you. Actually, anyone who was in any way different to some odd mainstream ideal - woe betide all of them.
I just loved the validation!
I was also exceptionally impressed by how lightly the topic was written, it is basically a fun story full of researched information and anecdotes gathered from radio shows over the years. These are lightly mingled with a dash of nostalgia and a recognition that nostalgia has an inbuild editing system that may make it unreliable. Heaps of fun as an audiobook and I would recommend it to any Australian who thinks the past was better, as well as to those of us who remember the past well enough to think that really, no, it probably wasn't.
February 8, 2019
Richard Glover is very well placed to write a commentary on how life has improved from the 1960s & 70s to the present. He is a brilliant observer and a wonderful optimist who backs up his claims with lots of research. There’s some laugh out loud moments, quite a bit of cringing but many more serious points. Besides our ruining of the planet, (which I find hard to put aside) as a culture we have come a long way. The brutality, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, crime, poverty and general lack of opportunity of the past has diminished so that we now live in an almost unrecognisable place. It’s very timely to realise this and I think we need to know these things in order to move forward. We can make this world a better place.
November 7, 2018
A very funny social commentary on Australia between about 1965 to 1975 with a serious side. A world of Ford Pills, Fancypants, board games, dodgy cooking, racism, sexism and all sorts of difference and cringe. “The world is a foreign country” may explain the theme of Glover’s work. But a foreign country that wasn’t so long ago. And how things have changed ... for the better.
July 15, 2019
3.5★
I enjoyed some of the reflections - some of them were still relevant into the 80s, as I wasn't alive for any of the 60s and the majority of the 70s.
There were definitely things I didn't realise - I didn't know the flat white was an Australian idea! And it is difficult to imagine the police being called in because a cafe owner had decided to put a table and a couple of chairs outside so people could enjoy their tea/coffee in the sun! I also didn't realise that 1978/79 was the point at which Australians drank as much tea as coffee, and after that point coffee intake continued increasing and tea intake declined.
There were other things that he said people under 50 wouldn't understand or believe, but they were things I remembered - maybe we're a bit behind Canberra up here in Brisbane!
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator was the author. He had a pleasant accent, although he also had a habit of pausing before various words. He wasn't always pausing for effect, which was a little disconcerting, but didn't detract from my enjoyment.
I enjoyed some of the reflections - some of them were still relevant into the 80s, as I wasn't alive for any of the 60s and the majority of the 70s.
There were definitely things I didn't realise - I didn't know the flat white was an Australian idea! And it is difficult to imagine the police being called in because a cafe owner had decided to put a table and a couple of chairs outside so people could enjoy their tea/coffee in the sun! I also didn't realise that 1978/79 was the point at which Australians drank as much tea as coffee, and after that point coffee intake continued increasing and tea intake declined.
There were other things that he said people under 50 wouldn't understand or believe, but they were things I remembered - maybe we're a bit behind Canberra up here in Brisbane!
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator was the author. He had a pleasant accent, although he also had a habit of pausing before various words. He wasn't always pausing for effect, which was a little disconcerting, but didn't detract from my enjoyment.
October 14, 2019
Lightweight but enjoyable consideration of the immense social and cultural changes in Australia since the 1970s. It ranges from the difficulty getting divorced, the lack of safety measures, the awful food, the prosectution and public attitude towards homosexuality. Glover does his research and the audio version of him reading the book is good fun, though not quite as hilarious or as deep that I might have yearned for. No real surprises overall but I think his take home message - let us not forget how much things have improved, how much capacity a society has for change - via politicians, writers, union leaders, leaders etc. I think is valuable in an age dominated by easy cynicism.
August 19, 2019
For someone brought up in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, this book is a nostalgic trip down the old memory lane. Richard Glover has put in the time and effort with his research, and it’s made for a very interesting, and at times entertaining, read.
We’ve come a long way.
• Prior to 1966, legislation was in place that when a woman working in the Australian public service got married, she automatically lost her job.
• The Australian Labor Party supported the White Australia Policy until 1965, with vestiges of the policy remaining until 1973
• It was not until 1972 that the wearing of car seat belts was mandatory in all cars throughout Australia.
• Our $50 note was introduced in 1973, known as a ‘pineapple’. The $20 note, a ‘lobster’.
• The good old Breville Snack ‘n’ Sandwich Toaster, first released in 1974, reportedly selling 400,000 units in its first year.
• Prior to 1975 the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 provided 14 grounds for the grant of divorce, including adultery, desertion, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment and insanity. To succeed on one of these grounds, a spouse had to prove marital fault, which often meant employing a private detective or lawyer to collect evidence. Alternatively, the married couple had to have been separated for five or more years before divorce was granted.
• In the 1970s, homosexuality was illegal in every state in Australia, in line with public opinion.
• The abolition of free school milk in 1973.
• On 1 March 1975, Colour TV introduced in Australia.
• The first mobile phone emerged in Australia in 1981. It weighed 14kg (a’ brick’), and cost $5000 (no, I haven’t accidentally put an extra zero in there!). Sending an SMS was not imaginable at the time as the phone didn’t have much memory.
• Random breath testing was introduced in New South Wales on December 17, 1982. Since its introduction, trauma from fatal crashes involving alcohol has dropped from about 40% of all fatalities to the 2017 level of 15%.
• Smoking was allowed everywhere – even in hospital wards and elevators. Smoking on domestic flights in Australia wasn’t banned until December, 1987.
• We used to love burning our rubbish in an incinerator, usually a large drum situated up near the back fence, filling the suburbs with smoke on weekends.
• Lunch boxes are now as varied as the food we eat at home, with most Australian tastebuds travelling far and wide in any given week. Even the smallest shopping mall has a food court that offers more than one ‘international cuisine’, with Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Lebanese being firm favourites.
• Discrimination and prejudice meant that Italian eating didn’t catch on in the general population until the late 70s.
I was particularly inspired by the final chapter in Richard Glover’s book, titled “The Rose-coloured Now”. We so often hear, read and see all the bad and negative things on television, radio, newspapers and the internet. The good things, those which would foster optimism are broadcast far less. Let’s look at the world through rose-coloured glasses, now.
We now have strict gun laws in Australia. Fencing of backyard pools only became mandatory in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Accidental drownings reportedly declined by 67% from 1979 to 2015. Child and adolescent mortality has decreased by close to 50% since 1990. Pre 1965, for every 1000 Australian children, 22.4 died before the age of five, either from illness or accident.
“According to ‘Our World in Data’, created by the German economist Max Roser, crime rose rapidly in many Western societies from the early 1960s onwards, before starting to fall just as rapidly in the early 1990s. By most measures, the rate is now lower than before it began to rise.”
There is precise data to reflect the decreasing trend of murder and armed robbery in Australia. Remember the Australian Government gun buyback scheme in 1996? 600,000 firearms which became illegal after gun law changes were removed from the Australian community.
We are making progress. Safety is paramount now in children’s playgrounds and in the workplace.
Next time you visit a café or restaurant and sit at a table outdoors, enjoying the sunshine, sipping on a great cup of coffee, eating smashed avocado, and idly watching the world go by, appreciate it, it wasn’t always like this in Australia.
We’ve come a long way.
• Prior to 1966, legislation was in place that when a woman working in the Australian public service got married, she automatically lost her job.
• The Australian Labor Party supported the White Australia Policy until 1965, with vestiges of the policy remaining until 1973
• It was not until 1972 that the wearing of car seat belts was mandatory in all cars throughout Australia.
• Our $50 note was introduced in 1973, known as a ‘pineapple’. The $20 note, a ‘lobster’.
• The good old Breville Snack ‘n’ Sandwich Toaster, first released in 1974, reportedly selling 400,000 units in its first year.
• Prior to 1975 the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 provided 14 grounds for the grant of divorce, including adultery, desertion, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment and insanity. To succeed on one of these grounds, a spouse had to prove marital fault, which often meant employing a private detective or lawyer to collect evidence. Alternatively, the married couple had to have been separated for five or more years before divorce was granted.
• In the 1970s, homosexuality was illegal in every state in Australia, in line with public opinion.
• The abolition of free school milk in 1973.
• On 1 March 1975, Colour TV introduced in Australia.
• The first mobile phone emerged in Australia in 1981. It weighed 14kg (a’ brick’), and cost $5000 (no, I haven’t accidentally put an extra zero in there!). Sending an SMS was not imaginable at the time as the phone didn’t have much memory.
• Random breath testing was introduced in New South Wales on December 17, 1982. Since its introduction, trauma from fatal crashes involving alcohol has dropped from about 40% of all fatalities to the 2017 level of 15%.
• Smoking was allowed everywhere – even in hospital wards and elevators. Smoking on domestic flights in Australia wasn’t banned until December, 1987.
• We used to love burning our rubbish in an incinerator, usually a large drum situated up near the back fence, filling the suburbs with smoke on weekends.
• Lunch boxes are now as varied as the food we eat at home, with most Australian tastebuds travelling far and wide in any given week. Even the smallest shopping mall has a food court that offers more than one ‘international cuisine’, with Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Lebanese being firm favourites.
• Discrimination and prejudice meant that Italian eating didn’t catch on in the general population until the late 70s.
I was particularly inspired by the final chapter in Richard Glover’s book, titled “The Rose-coloured Now”. We so often hear, read and see all the bad and negative things on television, radio, newspapers and the internet. The good things, those which would foster optimism are broadcast far less. Let’s look at the world through rose-coloured glasses, now.
We now have strict gun laws in Australia. Fencing of backyard pools only became mandatory in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Accidental drownings reportedly declined by 67% from 1979 to 2015. Child and adolescent mortality has decreased by close to 50% since 1990. Pre 1965, for every 1000 Australian children, 22.4 died before the age of five, either from illness or accident.
“According to ‘Our World in Data’, created by the German economist Max Roser, crime rose rapidly in many Western societies from the early 1960s onwards, before starting to fall just as rapidly in the early 1990s. By most measures, the rate is now lower than before it began to rise.”
There is precise data to reflect the decreasing trend of murder and armed robbery in Australia. Remember the Australian Government gun buyback scheme in 1996? 600,000 firearms which became illegal after gun law changes were removed from the Australian community.
We are making progress. Safety is paramount now in children’s playgrounds and in the workplace.
Next time you visit a café or restaurant and sit at a table outdoors, enjoying the sunshine, sipping on a great cup of coffee, eating smashed avocado, and idly watching the world go by, appreciate it, it wasn’t always like this in Australia.
March 30, 2020
4.5
I ended up reading half of this out loud to John and we often had tears rolling down our faces. Many parts felt like a biography of my own childhood !
If you grew up in the 60s or 70s in Australia you MUST read this book. In fact it should be mandatory reading for all those people who yearn for the ‘good old days’ and it’s packed with facts and figures as to why. Some very valid points are made !
I ended up reading half of this out loud to John and we often had tears rolling down our faces. Many parts felt like a biography of my own childhood !
If you grew up in the 60s or 70s in Australia you MUST read this book. In fact it should be mandatory reading for all those people who yearn for the ‘good old days’ and it’s packed with facts and figures as to why. Some very valid points are made !
February 28, 2021
As the author is the same age as me this was a fascinating and well researched trip back to different times.
July 18, 2024
Geez, I thought I was all cynical and screwed up.
I wasn't surprised to find that the author was a newspaper journalist. He writes this book with bile. He has the same snide, negative sensationalist, bullshit attitude that makes watching the 6.00 o'clock news such a depressing affair these days (I've given up watching it most nights). He must have had a real unhappy childhood, because I grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and apart from a bad time at the (Un-)Christian Brothers school I attended, I was mostly happy and felt things were pretty good.
Most things were delivered to your door - bread, fish, fruit, ice-cream and milk. Groceries were in paper bags, not plastic. Cars didn't have a long warranty (12 months) and weren't as reliable, but you could fix them yourselves...or the mechanic at the local gas/petrol station could. Kids had more self-reliance...they had to. We could entertain ourselves - build a cubby house, play board games, construct model boats/planes, ride our bikes and explore the neighbourhood (safely). Yes, home appliances were expensive compared to now, but they were built to last and didn't fill up our rubbish tip and environment with plastic. We all knew our neighbours - not just the ones either side of us, but the ones either side of them and across the road - and down the road a ways too! We'd look out for each other as well.
His leftist views just pissed me off. He rubbishes the American influence and our "pandering" to US presidents. It seems he's forgotten who came to our (and Mother England's) aid during WW2 when the wolf was literally at the door. Of course we should send troops to Viet-Nam and Iraq...and Afghanistan, because the US asked us too. Who else does he think will help us when the wolf (China or Indonesia) decides to visit our door again? What an idiot. He glorifies a Prime Minister (Gough Whitlam) who came perilously close to sending this country broke - literally.
I enjoyed the 60s and 70s. Yes, some things looked tough by today's standard, but we were happy despite that. It seems Glover couldn't find one single positive to say about our country in the that era. Yes many things have improved greatly, and so they should. But not everything! He lamented how many Aussies have had to move overseas to find success. Perhaps he should too. And the sooner, the better.
I thought the food was great back then. I loved our Sunday roast chook and vegetables. AND thanks to a mate who had a farm at Woombye, I was eating Reid avocados when I was 14. So much better than the take-away c**p we have today.
I wasn't surprised to find that the author was a newspaper journalist. He writes this book with bile. He has the same snide, negative sensationalist, bullshit attitude that makes watching the 6.00 o'clock news such a depressing affair these days (I've given up watching it most nights). He must have had a real unhappy childhood, because I grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and apart from a bad time at the (Un-)Christian Brothers school I attended, I was mostly happy and felt things were pretty good.
Most things were delivered to your door - bread, fish, fruit, ice-cream and milk. Groceries were in paper bags, not plastic. Cars didn't have a long warranty (12 months) and weren't as reliable, but you could fix them yourselves...or the mechanic at the local gas/petrol station could. Kids had more self-reliance...they had to. We could entertain ourselves - build a cubby house, play board games, construct model boats/planes, ride our bikes and explore the neighbourhood (safely). Yes, home appliances were expensive compared to now, but they were built to last and didn't fill up our rubbish tip and environment with plastic. We all knew our neighbours - not just the ones either side of us, but the ones either side of them and across the road - and down the road a ways too! We'd look out for each other as well.
His leftist views just pissed me off. He rubbishes the American influence and our "pandering" to US presidents. It seems he's forgotten who came to our (and Mother England's) aid during WW2 when the wolf was literally at the door. Of course we should send troops to Viet-Nam and Iraq...and Afghanistan, because the US asked us too. Who else does he think will help us when the wolf (China or Indonesia) decides to visit our door again? What an idiot. He glorifies a Prime Minister (Gough Whitlam) who came perilously close to sending this country broke - literally.
I enjoyed the 60s and 70s. Yes, some things looked tough by today's standard, but we were happy despite that. It seems Glover couldn't find one single positive to say about our country in the that era. Yes many things have improved greatly, and so they should. But not everything! He lamented how many Aussies have had to move overseas to find success. Perhaps he should too. And the sooner, the better.
I thought the food was great back then. I loved our Sunday roast chook and vegetables. AND thanks to a mate who had a farm at Woombye, I was eating Reid avocados when I was 14. So much better than the take-away c**p we have today.
February 3, 2019
This was a surprising read that I really enjoyed.
Over breakfast one morning the author told his son that when he was younger there was no avocado. His son was in disbelief. What followed was the author's exploration of what other parts of Australian society that we take for granted were alien prior to 1975.
I was born in 1976, however I grew up in a small country town and it takes a long time for things to change. Some of the things the author spoke about I had completely forgotten. Talking to my flatmate (born in a similar era) about the book we reminisced on how times had changed (and in our opinion for the better). The book definitely took me back to my childhood.
I highly recommend this book. It is well researched and is really funny in places. It is hard to believe that the land of avocado was not that long ago.
Over breakfast one morning the author told his son that when he was younger there was no avocado. His son was in disbelief. What followed was the author's exploration of what other parts of Australian society that we take for granted were alien prior to 1975.
I was born in 1976, however I grew up in a small country town and it takes a long time for things to change. Some of the things the author spoke about I had completely forgotten. Talking to my flatmate (born in a similar era) about the book we reminisced on how times had changed (and in our opinion for the better). The book definitely took me back to my childhood.
I highly recommend this book. It is well researched and is really funny in places. It is hard to believe that the land of avocado was not that long ago.
May 16, 2021
What to say? This book was roller coaster ride. I laughed until I cried reading about food and travel way back when. I cringed reading exactly how far behind Australia was in the 60s and 70s with regards to women's rights in particular.
Richard Glover's 'time travel' to a life I remember from only one perspective (it was great!) caused me to stop and think. The insight and research that he put into these pages makes it funny, heart-warming, and yes, startling - and not in a good way.
I don't agree with all of his conclusions, though that doesn't affect my appreciation of the book.
It starts out strong, drawing the reader in right away, but lags in some of the later chapters. Still, I recommend it to anyone wanting to have a look back at an Australia you may remember, but from a different viewpoint.
Richard Glover's 'time travel' to a life I remember from only one perspective (it was great!) caused me to stop and think. The insight and research that he put into these pages makes it funny, heart-warming, and yes, startling - and not in a good way.
I don't agree with all of his conclusions, though that doesn't affect my appreciation of the book.
It starts out strong, drawing the reader in right away, but lags in some of the later chapters. Still, I recommend it to anyone wanting to have a look back at an Australia you may remember, but from a different viewpoint.
January 24, 2019
A nostalgic & often funny look back at the Australia of the 60’s-70’s.
February 2, 2024
I really enjoyed this, my mind was blown multiple times throughout and had to have things fact checked with parents and confirmed by them.
Basically a look back on the powers of nostalgia in Australia, which you often hear from sulking talk back jocks & their insufferable callers on how wrecked this country is now and how it was sooo much better in the 60s/70s/80s, but Richard (also a radio guy, but more self aware) details how we’ve never had it better (especially women, children, minorities and the safety of workers)
Highly recommended for the Boomer generation, who will love the trip down memory lane, even if it recalls some memories weren’t as rose coloured as memory served.
Basically a look back on the powers of nostalgia in Australia, which you often hear from sulking talk back jocks & their insufferable callers on how wrecked this country is now and how it was sooo much better in the 60s/70s/80s, but Richard (also a radio guy, but more self aware) details how we’ve never had it better (especially women, children, minorities and the safety of workers)
Highly recommended for the Boomer generation, who will love the trip down memory lane, even if it recalls some memories weren’t as rose coloured as memory served.
July 4, 2019
Oh how I bloody adored this book!
Wise and witty taking us from around 1965 to the present day. Some of it is memoir, that I can really relate to. The Author grew-up, only a few years ahead of me, in the same city. How familiar it all is.
He's also gleamed quite a bit from deep diving into archival footage of the times.
Nostalgic and informative critique of our "lucky" country.
Extremely excellent! Highly recommended!
Might be my best non-fiction read of the year.
Wise and witty taking us from around 1965 to the present day. Some of it is memoir, that I can really relate to. The Author grew-up, only a few years ahead of me, in the same city. How familiar it all is.
He's also gleamed quite a bit from deep diving into archival footage of the times.
Nostalgic and informative critique of our "lucky" country.
Extremely excellent! Highly recommended!
Might be my best non-fiction read of the year.
September 27, 2025
Loved this! Memories and laughs of my childhood.
May 22, 2019
So many memories were dredged up with this book. I loved the snippets from the Womens Weekly ... I am sure I have read these. The food section made me laugh. Some of the chapters were harrowing. We have come a long way, and the author is correct, that in most ways the world is a better place.
December 11, 2018
“The past is a foreign country...”
I’m a little bit younger, but feel I grew up in the same country as RG - Canberra in the 70s. I laughed (out loud) at so much of the 70s cultural refuse. A lot of dittos and familiar nostalgic landmarks and signifiers. It’s when we see how much of our experience we share with strangers that we recognise the full power of culture in specific times and places. As for the later chapters, my parents were well-trained optimists - my mum a disciple of AB Facey’s referenced ‘A Fortunate Life’, my dad sometimes described as Voltaire’s Dr Pangloss (“All is well in the best of all possible worlds.”), so I am well acquainted with the social and economic progress that so many people are cognitively biased against seeing. I try to remain an optimist. However, I feel RG may still spend a bit too much time in the ABC bubble and misrepresents the concerns of some people today. The book typically leans left, hails the usual heroes and ignores many others, and aligns itself with certain accepted views of history in the culture wars. The new “angry old white man” gets a mention as someone who wants to go back to the good old days. Not always or necessarily so, I think. A lot of that progress was due to (now) old white men. Many of the voices I hear today are expressing a concern that the values that allow progress are being threatened by the very ideas currently being fostered. There is a fear that things are going to get worse, not a fear of change, but of progress being stalled because of an erosion of underlying values, not the loss of an old world. It’s possible we are approaching the moment when the revolution starts to eat itself. RG is rightly open-minded enough to understand that some of every generation’s ideas, seemingly set in stone, and “just part of human nature”, may one day seem as ridiculous as those of the 70s, but is he open to considering that global warming alarmism, identity politics and gender fluidity, for instance, may be among those ideas? Perhaps one day people will gasp: “You put mashed avocado on toast!” History shows that progress hasn’t happened in a continuous straight incline. Sometimes, sickly (and sickening) ideas creep in and take hold and darkness follows. 1990 - 2018 has been a period of unparalleled progress. We would be deluded to thing it will continue forever without vigilance. The rise of aspirational victimhood, grievance politics and entitlement may undermine the foundations. Of particular concern to me is that ideas like the rule of law and freedom of speech, that are cornerstones of a healthy society will be subsumed by the power of new technology and the global/digital revolution.
I’m a little bit younger, but feel I grew up in the same country as RG - Canberra in the 70s. I laughed (out loud) at so much of the 70s cultural refuse. A lot of dittos and familiar nostalgic landmarks and signifiers. It’s when we see how much of our experience we share with strangers that we recognise the full power of culture in specific times and places. As for the later chapters, my parents were well-trained optimists - my mum a disciple of AB Facey’s referenced ‘A Fortunate Life’, my dad sometimes described as Voltaire’s Dr Pangloss (“All is well in the best of all possible worlds.”), so I am well acquainted with the social and economic progress that so many people are cognitively biased against seeing. I try to remain an optimist. However, I feel RG may still spend a bit too much time in the ABC bubble and misrepresents the concerns of some people today. The book typically leans left, hails the usual heroes and ignores many others, and aligns itself with certain accepted views of history in the culture wars. The new “angry old white man” gets a mention as someone who wants to go back to the good old days. Not always or necessarily so, I think. A lot of that progress was due to (now) old white men. Many of the voices I hear today are expressing a concern that the values that allow progress are being threatened by the very ideas currently being fostered. There is a fear that things are going to get worse, not a fear of change, but of progress being stalled because of an erosion of underlying values, not the loss of an old world. It’s possible we are approaching the moment when the revolution starts to eat itself. RG is rightly open-minded enough to understand that some of every generation’s ideas, seemingly set in stone, and “just part of human nature”, may one day seem as ridiculous as those of the 70s, but is he open to considering that global warming alarmism, identity politics and gender fluidity, for instance, may be among those ideas? Perhaps one day people will gasp: “You put mashed avocado on toast!” History shows that progress hasn’t happened in a continuous straight incline. Sometimes, sickly (and sickening) ideas creep in and take hold and darkness follows. 1990 - 2018 has been a period of unparalleled progress. We would be deluded to thing it will continue forever without vigilance. The rise of aspirational victimhood, grievance politics and entitlement may undermine the foundations. Of particular concern to me is that ideas like the rule of law and freedom of speech, that are cornerstones of a healthy society will be subsumed by the power of new technology and the global/digital revolution.
January 13, 2019
An interesting take on social commentary. Glover is at times hilarious (I kept interrupting my wife's reading with 'sorry you HAVE to listen to this"...and "yes I know you are going to read it but just listen to this for a moment!" He is honest about his upbringing and is sensible in his advice that many of us look back with rose coloured glasses when in fact some things were not as good in the 'early days' as they are now. On the down side of the book there is too much commentary on the food we ate in the 1970s. Many will appreciate this but I did not. An easy read. Well researched but not as good as Glover's last book - Flesh Wounds - which was extraordinary! Glover is my favourite current affairs radio broadcaster and I look forward to his next book.
November 5, 2019
Well, what can I say. The book is entertaining and informative, with quirky descriptions of what life was like back then, the 60s and 70s. From Amplex personal tablets for internal body odour to that daily dose of Bex, I learnt how sexist and uninformed we were in the past. There are quite a few hilarious moments, sprinkled with truly confronting facts. However, by the end of the book I felt like I was being judged by the moral police, asking me to be more positive about things. Society was cruel back then, agreed, but cruelty hasn’t completely vanished as it is in our nature. The thing is, appreciating the joys in life has never really brought big change but made us resign to our sense of satisfaction. Well, it is debatable, and therefore, I found Glover’s commentary a bit lack lustre.
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